Shadowfur and Lionheart
by Farrendahl
Summary: When I was playing Neverwinter Nights a year ago I started to post one or two screenshots of the actual gameplay on my homepage and wrote tiny, somehow fitting scenes or dialogues. I called them "snippets" - until they grew into my first fanfic ... Enjoy
1. How to deal with dragons?

_At first some words as a small prologue: This never ever was planned to be a fanfiction!!!  
When I was playing Neverwinter Nights a year ago I started to post one or two screenshots of the actual gameplay on my homepage and wrote tiny, somehow fitting scenes or dialogues. I called them "snippets" and had a lot of fun with them ... until one day they claimed more and more of my time and keyboard work and grew into my first fanfiction. Oooops!_

So - this is a very strange "expermient": a story with no beginning - you have to do your best to find and fit into it! - and certainly written in a terrible, hair-raising english (the original is hair-raising german :lol:)  
Well- if you are daredevil enough or have a good or charming hairdresser feel free to join my halfling rougue Teloki and his elven companion Linu in her discussion about dragons. And please feel free to note me of mind-killing mistakes!

**"How to deal with dragons?"**

Back in the tavern Teloki watches the fumes ascending from the hot wines surface. With his eyes half-closed he looks just like a cat, that after a successful hunt snuggels into a sunlit spot, praises the past with a content purr, glories in the "here and now" and slyly with sparkling halfmoon-eyes peers into the future.

"It's fun to deal with dragons", he declares, fondly caressing the sturdy wallet beneath his cloak.  
"It has been fun, to deal with THIS dragon. For once!", Linu chipped in displeased, while she tenderly brightens the top of her thorn-armored club using the cuff of her robe.  
"Dragons are tall, dangerous creatures. They'll freeze you, toast you, mangle you, trample you down ...", she patronizes.  
"Pff! Dragons are tall, toffee-nosed beings. They count on that you believe in those old wives' tales and they hope that this fear alone will lead you straight into the Silent Lords arms."

With a gentle laugh Teloki Shadowfur shakes his head, His glance touches the bulky leathern sack sheltering the true treasure of Akkulatraxas. Not the piffling reward of a thousand goldpieces, that the worm gave him for getting him rid of a Hill Giants gang, not the exceedingly useless Seven-Mile-Boots (Only fat fainthearts would wear this stuff!) or the Amulet of Protection, that the old saurian graciously yielded to his "tiny pet" Teloki.

Carefully hidden and wrapped into warming drapery two dragon eggs slumber on their way into a yet unsettled future. Prey. A fair price a big-mouthed dragon has to pay a sticky-fingered thief as compensation for a small-minded reward.  
How to deal with dragons? That way!


	2. There are dragons and there are dragons

_Still "warming up" ... _

_This snippet is another small scene from chapter 3 of "Neverwinter Nights", taking place shortly after outplaying Akkulatraxas, the Green Dragon._

**"There are dragons and there are dragons ..."**

"Dragons are tall, dangerous creatures. They'll freeze you, toast you, mangle you, trample you down ...- You didn't tell me, that they'll bathe me in slime, ugh!"  
With disgust Teloki shakes off his vambrace some splashes of green acid.  
"Tssss, unbelievable! Look, how cute he is, lying there stock-still. I almost could forget that he called me a tiny pet!"  
Linu sighs. "Little people and their tall ego! Teloki, if you are going to bear a grudge against all dragons I seriously have to fear for their future!"

A smile flickers on the halflings lips. "There are dragons and there are dragons", he says shrugging.  
"This one has been kind of ... that ... dragon, but surely somewhere live others - just like the one, over whose last years Tamorlyn, the bard has been watching patiently."  
"A weary, old philosophizing lizard?", Linu teases. She earns an amused shrug and an innocent glance out of narrow gray eyes.  
"Hmmmm, whats wrong with it as long as it guards a treasure, that is waiting to change hands?"


	3. We bring it to an end

_Ok - I confess: the title is very, very misleading! _

_We reached chapter 4 of the game, but for sure it will take a little more than five or fifteen lines to finish Morag. So it's just the beginning of the final battle._

_Linu and Teloki crossed the Source Stone (kind of magic portal that leads into alternate dimensions, one of them is the world whereto Morag once has been banished) and are going to enter Morags sanctum. Well, it's not comfortable there. Not at all._

-------------------------------

**We bring it to an end**

With kind of grim appreciation Teloki balances the two daedal swords in his hands.  
"Lighting and Ice - Morag gave us a noble gift, didn't she?", he quietly snarls.  
Linus fire elemental respectfully backs off. The frosted, icecrystal-exhaling blade is not after his fancy. Nor at all.  
His sizzling aura makes shades dance on Linus face. Frowning she looks at the leftovers of Morags "Hands", magic guardians of the doorway into the lizard-queens sanctum.

"What now, Teloki?", she asks. Her tone is as dark as her eyes.  
"We bring it to an end", is his answer.  
Artless and frugal. There is nothing left of the typical mischief in his voice she had learned to love. The atmosphere of this place breathes profound unholiness and lets even the brave halfling's blood run cold, although there is an unnatural warmth weaving through the maze. But it is not the purifying heat of a fire. It is the sweltering closeness of lies, perfidy and smoldering hate.

"Hold on! I'll have a look on the old ones nest", he whispers, takes a deep breath and melts into the lurking shadows.  
Linu cowers down. With her back rested against the wall she stares into the blackness. For some time only the occasional crackling of the patiently waiting elemental brakes the silence that has sprawled around the worried cleric.  
And there is a good reason for Linu La'neral to be worried: Shadowfur – unsmiling and tight-lipped, as sable as the cave-labyrinth of the Source Stone and as pale as the bones of Tamorlyns old wyvern ... She sighs. Morags invisible, yet omnipresent webbing made of lunacy, curses, horror and darkness even gets on him.  
The elfin cleric sends a silent prayer to Sehanine, then closes her eyes and starts to listen to the beating of her heart. It beats. Steady and with a tacit certainty she in fact does not feel. Not at all.


	4. Sixty Seven

**Sixty Seven**

Teloki is back. Somehow, sometime. As soundless as the shadows had taken him they now release him. Tired out he droppes down next to Linu and takes off his helmet to wipe off the sweat from his face. As his right hand disobeys a restrained curse escapes his lips.  
"Darn, seems I'm getting too old for this!"  
"What for?"

Linu loosens the halfling's rune-decorated bracer. Thank Goddess the healer can't find an injury, there are only swollen muscles and bow-taught tendons strained to their limits. Her skillful fingers ease hardenings and tensions and the mild scent of forest- herbs fills the air in the dusky corridor. For a while Teloki in silence enjoys the coming and going of pain that turns his useless arm into feeling flesh again.

"For Morags little games. Those two guardians weren't the last brick in the wall she had raised between herself and us. Morag is surrounded by eight ... 'priests', who ceaselessly babble prayers. It wouldn't surprise me if she - just like all dastards - nurtures her powers by other ones' strength."  
He spits out snorty, then keeps up.

"The only way to to get to her and her minions is an opening protected by a wall of dancing blades. There should be a mechanism to turn them off ... maybe ... hidden within this ugly statue near the old lizardqueen. But to destroy it you have to get close to Morag. Too close probably ..."  
"Perhaps a bow or a crossbow ...", Linu suggests but instantly hushes as she glances at Telokis quiver.  
It's empty! How many arrows have been misplayed? Fifty? A hundred? Teloki follows her eyes.

"Sixty seven", he says and smiles weary."But not in vain, hopefully."


	5. Plans of Gods, Plans of Men

**Plans of Gods, Plans of Men**

Shadowfur tentatively moves his stiff fingers. Aching they follow his will. But Linu's hand seals his one with an unexpected strength.  
"No, you don't! Not yet!" she hisses, crossed about his impatience.  
Teloki sighes in resignation. 'Obey your healer!' has been a hard lesson he lately had to learn always anew. Linu La'neral, elven warrior and cleric, blessed by Sehanine and not leaving his side since the Neverwinter plague, is a passable fighter - especially when she loses her temper. But she is as priceless as she is irreplaceable as healer. She's every adventurers treasure.

He leans back to let Linu finish her work and goes on:  
"Bow and arrows - that's been my first thought, too. Well ... not my best, I suppose. Morag had a ripping good time. The arrows not even reached the tip of her tail. She fended them off like meddlesome flies."  
The exotic scent of a salve, that makes his skin burn like fire, suddenly seems to sharpen his senses for the details surrounding him: Linus sea-green eyes: they're half closed whilst in healing trance, the gentle singing and weaving of white magic, the healers slender fingers that - following ancient elven runes - strike his hand. The halfling recognizes a blessing, a healing, a strengthening, a ... cooling force made of liquid silver?  
"No!", he gasps and tries to squirm free. "I'm not like **her**!"  
But their fingers are folded inseparably, like an alliance, a promise ...  
"No! Not **your** strength!"

_*It is all right, Shadowfur!*_

The voice of Sehanine floods the room like moonlight and her reflection shines in Linu's now wide opened eyes.

_*To fight for the Good does not mean that one is not allowed to cheat. Of all people, you - the irrepressible scamps' child - should know.*_

Divine laughter refreshing like a pure spring pearls off the walls. Then the unearthly presence fades, leaving the two fighters to a wafting moment of togetherness. Hand in hand, eye in eye, warrior and healer, life and death ...

Linus awakens from her healer's trance.  
"Well! You should be yourself again." Smiling she passes back his arm.  
'Not quite myself again', Teloki thinks and listens to the tuneful coolness inside. He feels somehow ... different.

"What I don't get - if your arrows couldn't hurt Morag, then ... why this?" Linu questioningly points at the empty quiver.  
"One of the arrows bounced off her magic shield and hit a praying man. And him it could harm. He ceased praying after sixty shots and I'm sure he'll never start with it again."  
"Fine! That's one of eight!". Linu huffs and the warm light in her eyes turns into a sparkling glint. "A fine mess you've made of that, 'loki!"  
"Hmmm ... I don't think we have to worry about the other minders. Each one is encircled by some kind of ... aura. The faded one's halo has been made of fire. What if his duty was to protect the ol' lizard girl from fire damages?", the halfling muses.

"And what, if he has been the one who gave Morag the ability to cast fire?", Linu counters. "Then she still has seven ways left to kill us – except toasting us."  
Teloki nods. "I'll find out."  
But Linu does not agree. "Why it is you again? One of my firebolts will make sure ..."

Shadowfur ponders: his magic arrows - gone, the enchanted slingshot - a mere toy, only suitable to get a roasted boar right from the woods, the blades to make lightnings dance and air freeze - utterly useless. Linu's spell however ... But on the other hand ...  
"No, not that way. If things go wrong we'll need your powers elsewhere. Errr ... you know ..."

Then he comes up with an idea and rummages around in his old bag until he finds a battered wand of fire. Well, sometimes it is wise to keep an apparently bootless item!  
"We'll go together. And we'll take this one."


	6. Swat a mouse

Amazed Linu follows the halfling's preparations.

Teloki seems to play for keeps for he is doing something she has never seen him to do before: casting spells!  
He kneels on the cragged ground and carefully chooses from a batch of scrolls he had spread out in front of him: globe of invulnerability, ghostly visage, greater stoneskin ...  
Certainly not a perfect protection against Morag's dark powers and razor sharp claws, but maybe they'll grant him the time necessary for ... For what?

To see how the last spell turns her companion's friendly face into stone fills Linu's heart with sadness.

* * *

Morags titter yells through the cave.  
"You wretched half pint of warm flesh! Do you really believe to stand your ground against **this**?!"

She spits a bane made of acid hate. Heart-stopping scare drops from her gray lips and dark magic surges against Shadowfurs magic barrier, causing it to die with a weak sizzling noise. The following curse washes around him like black waters and tarnishes the shining metal of his armor, turning it into a blind mirror.  
'Damn!' Teloki struggles to tame the seething rage deep within and the fear that nearly paralyzes him. Another magic protection fails, drifts away like ashes, touched by Morag's beam of negative energy.

'Think, Shadowfur! No weapon can harm her, as long as ... ah ... the priests ... yes?'  
But his thoughts fray out in the mental screech of the lizard queen. Confusion. Who ... why? Dizzy he shakes his head. A tenacious gray fog makes him loose sight as well as courage. And sneering Morag casts her next spell.

The world around the halfling seems to freeze in motionlessness. Even the time yields to the Old One's relentless powers, twists and shivers like a wounded beast.  
Defenseless and unable to move Teloki watches Morags fire blasts hurtling towards him. He closes his eyes as the last remaining wall of light magic shatters.  
'Linu, I yet haven't told you ...'

The reek of burned leathers mingles with the stench of rot oozing out of Morag's mouth.  
"Now then, mite - you're hard-bitten. Tougher than I thought." Her hissing whisper sounds next to his ear.  
"But this isn't going to help you anyway. I'll enjoy to crush your bird-bones - one by one!"

The first blow of her claws takes Shadowfur by surprise. It easily pierces the light armor and smashes his ribs. Her merciless second one sweeps him off his legs and throws him against the rocks. The ugly sound of breaking bones is followed by a blazing pain is his shoulder that brings tears to his eyes.


	7. Divine interlude

_Hmmmm ... that's more a whim, not a snippet. Maybe I have to explain a little bit ..._

_Actually it is inspired by Freddy Mercury and Albert Einstein and their opinion about God's addiction to the game of dice. And by Max Pam, Tim Krabbé and Peter Sellers... :-)  
_

_I'm not quite sure whether the people of Faerun play chess. But as there is a chess-like board in the basement of the Tanglebrook Estate I guess there might be a similar game._

_

* * *

_

"Well, sis - do prosper your plans?"  
Sehanine lifts her eyes from the crystalline game board.  
"Have a look yourself, little brother. In the end your pawn's sacrifice will pay off."

Moved by an invisible hand the white queen crosses the board. Check! The red king backs off to the unchallenged border.  
Brandobaris frowns.  
"This has not been **my **decision. You tall ones even didn't bother to ask me", he snarls. "And it's not a ... 'pawn's sacrifice'!"  
Sehanine raises a beautiful eyebrow.  
"Well ...?"  
"It's a gambit. And withal a needless one!"  
"It must be done" the goddess insists. "It needs a lion to make a desert giant stumble."  
"Tommyrot!" The little demigod grumbles. "A tiny mouse will do. As long as it roars loud enough!"

He turns to the chessboard. A cheeky white pawn - already ventured deep into the hostile lines – makes his move and reaches the end of the board. There he turns into - a rook?  
Sehanine had watched it thunderstruck.  
"What do you think you're **doing**??!"  
The red player is confused as well. Making an aimless move he plays out and Brandobaris, the irrepressible scamp, smiles. His eyes are sparkling.  
"You should've had a wee bit more faith in the small people", he says.

The white king dances with the new built rook. A castling lengthwise the board?! Unexpected and powerful this maneuver realigns the game.  
The Mistress of Dreams gasps for breath.  
"Brandobaris! You're breaking the rules!!"  
"Never, sis. I'm interpreting them: a rook and a king - neither of them drawn until now, the fields between them free and not threatened by any hostile man ... this move is valid!"

The last red knight bustles across the board to fork both: rook and queen. But the halfling god is all smiles.  
"Now, sister. Unleash your lioness!"

And the white queen makes a step forward. Checkmate!

* * *

_OK - Some more wisenheimer information for those of you who are not (yet) familiar with the chess rules I (mis)used here:_

_- A **gambit **is a chess opening in which a player, most often White, sacrifices material, usually a pawn (sometimes a knight, a bishop or even a queen) with the hope of achieving a resulting advantageous position. So as it often is part of the opening and not of the endgame, my story is a poor comparison ..._

_- If a pawn advances to the eighth rank (the opposite end of the board), it is then promoted (converted) to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color, the choice being at the discretion of its player. A queen is usually chosen for it is the strongest piece. The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move._

_- **Castling** is the only move in chess (leaving aside promotion) that involves more than one piece of the same player. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook, then moving the rook onto the square over which the king crossed. Brandobaris shortly explained the other rules ...  
His unusual "interpretation" is the idea of Max Pam and its usage by Tim Krabbé, a Dutch chess-player, finally lead to a revision of the chess rules in the 70s: posting the additional requirement for legal castling, that king and rook must be on the same rank (row)._

_(if your are interested in more about this, see "Offbeat interpretations of the rules of chess" or the "Pam-Krabbé-Rochade" at Wikipedia)_


	8. To wake a Lion

Linu had watched this unequal fight far too long. If she could call it a fight at all!  
Morags toys with Shadowfur like a cat plays with a mouse. The halfling's pained scream finally fortifies her decision to interfere - even against his order - and to leave the safety of the halfl-light.

With increasing concern she had watched the fireballs killing her and Teloki's dim hope for a quick victory instead of killing Morag. They could have been throwing small stones against a landslide as well in order to stop it!  
Blaze by blaze had missed the scoffing lizard-queen ... and hit this obnoxious statue next to her.  
"Then just that way!", Shadowfur had chuntered and hadn't stopped firing until the statue fell in pieces and the barrier of dancing blades crashed. Like a ghost then he had appeared amongst Morags minions. But, to deal death - not to look into death's face himself!  
Linu's worry had risen with every lost thrust of his blades which collided with invincible fences; with every arrow that left the string only but to follow a futile path into the darkness; with every swing of the flail that hit pure blankness. And with every dark spell of the Last Old One, that fooled the halfling out of his time, his strength and his life her cautiously flickering solicitude had grown up into white hot ire.

"Enough of that, Morag! No one ..."  
She closes her eyes and dives into the deepness of her soul. There she gathers warmth and love, care and compassion - all that makes her a gentle healer - and conceals it in a sphere built of flaming rage. A force awakens within her. A power she's not able to name.  
When she opens up her eyes they are frosty like green ice. Her heart feels easy and cold. Her thoughts - a touch of moonlight.

"No one is to push around the sonny like that!"  
She steps forward, crosses the edge between shade and light without hesitating and leaves behind this line a part of herself. More than time and space divide her from the old Linu. A Linu who desperately wants to charge blindly across the endless cave, who must reach Teloki before Morag's bloody claws hit their mark again.  
Her new self measures the room with firm and steady steps and gains strength from Shadowfur's stifled moan and Morag's hideous laughter. Sober-minded and prudent she weaves ward after ward. Holy fire dances on her mace and makes her auburn hair rustle.  
"No one is! Even **you **are not!", she growls minatory.


	9. Here and Now

**Here and Now**

Morag is within range of fire and Linu knows: this is the right time. Another step and: this is the right place.  
Here and now she stops to shoot her light crossbow at the foe. Of course the bolt causes no harm. She didn't expect it anyway.  
But for a moment it grabs Morag's attention. It's just that moment which Teloki needs to seek shelter. With a clumsy leap he jumps into the safeness behind the Old Ones throne. The safety is a short-lived and deceiving one. But here and now it will do to let him catch his breath and to come to his senses.

He's in bad case, Teloki realizes, hovering weightless above the pain that threatens to tear him apart.  
In a pretty bad case ... He can see his left arm, but he can't feel it. No, it's much worse. His entire left side seems to be numb. Darn!  
In an awful bad case ... Blood is seeping out of the jagged scratches in his armor. Warm, red and unstoppable - like the setting sun.  
Shadowfur's eyes burn from smoke and acid damps. He squints. That's weird! ... It's a miracle he's able to notice all that at all.  
Then he discovers that it is not his own strength that prevents the remaining whit of life from trickling off. Sehanine!  
And more he sees...

It takes Linu some time to recognize the noise sounding through the murmur of Morag's priests being Shadowfur's laughter. It's a mix of rattling cough and dry sobbing, but here and now it's the most beautiful sound she can imagine.  
"'loki! Stop fooling around with that ol' lizard and do something substantial at last!"


	10. A few moons later

_Ooops - here the story went into business for itself. I simply followed to have a look whereto it may lead. If you were hoping for Morgas quick death you'll have to be patient (*smirk*)._

_And if you had played "Shadows of Undrentide" you 'll meet two old friends: Xanos and Deekin. I gave them some new personal aspects. Atari ans Bioware may forgive me ..._

_The snippets are growing lager, almost like patches of a quilt.  
If anyone here is a crack in correct (English) punctuation, please feel free to help! Apart from that I'll be exceedingly happy if you'll stay with me, even if it's not too exciting at the moment._

_

* * *

  
_

**A few moons later**

The wind joggles the walls of the tent. Keshi pushes a small figure, who's seemingly chilled through the marrow and from whose shadow a huge black cat emerges, towards the crackling fire in the middle of the marquee. Then she carefully ties up the round hatch behind her.

Shaking off some icy shivers from her shaggy black and red hair she makes the crystals dance in a race with the fiery sparks. The panther follows suit.  
"Yah, make yourself at home, Celadi", she laughs and gives the cat a hearty thump. And it pays her back with an impetuous thrust of its paw. A few moments later both of them go down scuffling on the fur-covered ground.

Deekin Scalesinger, the small gray-scaled kobold on the fire, rolls his eyes.  
"Sharess and her children, tsss! ... Noble huntress Keshi Ginadh, is this we will have for supper: big stinkin' tomcat and small wet man? Kinda tasty - eh, Xanos?"  
"Xanos better should've been outa there. We would have lekker rabbit-stew ... with minced rola-leaves", growls the addressed one, a bulky half-orc, eyes and tusks sparkling.  
"There you are! Catch it, Big One!"  
Keshi's backpack crosses the room in an elegant sweep and ends up in Xanos' huge, green hands.  
"What's it?"  
"Nuffin' yet - but will become lekker rabbit-stew ... with minced rola-leaves, mmmh!"  
"Fine!" Deekin nods and turns to Keshi who has managed to get free from the big cat's embracement and is on her feet again.  
"And who's the one we share vine, hospitality and", his eyes shine with excitement, "new tales with?"

The tall warrior gives the kobold a cordial smile, when she takes the bowl of hot spiced wine out of his hands. Then she turns to her guest, who by now has taken off the wet cloak and warms his clammy fingers on the fireplace: a wispy halfling, the long bluish-black hair tied up in pigtail, the face pale and sharp-featured. But there are some subtle crinkles in the corner of his eyes revealing her that he likes laughter. Or liked?  
"Welcome to Keshi's tent, Teloki Shadowfur!"  
She kneels down to look into her sojourner's eyes while handing him the bowl. For a short-lived moment the shadow of a painful memory - or a foreboding? - seems to cloud her face. But it's over quickly.  
"Share with us the igneous wine, brewed by Xanos Messarmos, our halforcish warlock with a will made of granite and a laughter made of basalt."

Xanos carries forward the greeting. The huge halforc cowers in front of the halfling like a rock. His mighty hands gently clasp the slender shoulders and his voice indeed resembles the deafening chimes of a swinging pillar of stone.  
"Share with us a tale for our bard Deekin Scalesinger, the puzzling master of perplexing words, who's heart is warming gold and who's throat is shiny silver."

Finally the little kobold closes the round dance-like address of welcome.  
"Look, friends: Deekin not is to bow to greet his guest!"  
For an instant only his scaled head touches Telokis forehead. 'Ooooh, big tale for tiny bard, but ...'  
"The circle around the fire first you share with us, then dream and den with Keshi Ginadh; her blade as cutting as ice wind and her hand as soft as breezes in the rising sun."

Teloki gulps and - so he hopes - unremarkable veers towards Celadi.  
"Same welcome of course for you, Tall-Shadowfur", addresses Deekin, who had noticed even this slight movement, the halfling's bond animal.  
"Well - maybe not wine for you but leftovers of mellow rabbit, eh?"  
Without a sound Celadi circles the fire and rubs his huge skull against the halforc's leg. Suddenly Teloki feels very unsure about how few of the rabbits he and Keshi had hunted down during the past stone-cold hours will make their way into the saucepan. And how many of them will end up in his friend's stomach.  
"My companion Celadi thanks for the invitation and ...", he throws an insistent look at the big cat. "for once will behave himself!... hopefully ...", he adds meekly and downs the hot drink in one swig.

The blizzard outside has grown stronger. He howls around the marquee like a hungry warg. Ice crystals rasp the walls and from the distance resounds the groan of the glaciers' wearisome flowing. But it's quiet and homey within the tent. The wine warms, the fire too. And in some strange way even the aura of the odd trio does.  
'What a company! A halforcish cook, a singing kobold and a beautiful yet quite loopy lass ...' Shadowfur shortly recalls their encounter at daybreak.  
'Rola-leaves! Anyway ... One has to be crazy to travel to Novularond at death of winter', he thinks. An almost-smile lights up his face.  
'Just like me.'

"Ah – pathetical thinking over now!"  
Deekin cheery claps his hands.  
"Practical doing: Xanos simmers scrumptious stew, Keshi and Teloki stop dropping and dripping whole nice tent and Tall-Shadowfur-Tomcat should take black nose out of Deekins pockets, right-now-on-the-spot!"

"And Deekin?", asks Keshi, mischievously looking back over her shoulder while towing Teloki into the rear part of the tent where equipment and dry wear is stored. The kobold sits down on the soft furs. His golden eyes glow.  
"Deekin after fire will look, laaaaarge chaaaaaarge, yes?"


	11. Sounds for Scalesinger

_Well, once again some__ words concerning this chapter. It doesn't make any contribution to the plot's progress as it is one of my "experiments": a strange kind of character drawing and a doubtful result of my addiction to invent rituals. Have fun!_  
--------------

The fire is steadily burning. Sparks dance like ghost lights. Following an invisible pathway they ascend to the flue in the top of the tent. The little kobold-bard paces off a circle around the flames, humming a melody seemingly lost in thoughts. As he comes full circle he spreads his arms in an inviting gesture.

"Your place you seek within the ring, your place you seek within the tale! ... And upon the songster bestow a sound of your soul", he adds with a smile as the companions make themselves comfortable: Xanos laid-back resting on his huge mace, opposite to him Keshi with a focused face. Teloki and Celadi lairing between the two tall ones like a piece of black night at the edge of the fire's light. All of them had traded their moist furs with light swansdown.

"Who's first?" the bard wants to know.  
"Me", is the halforc's answer. He closes his eyes and listens into his inner self. Suddenly a mighty belch, followed by a cloud of poison-green gases fills the air. For a moment even the storm falls silent. And an amused smile plays on Keshi's lips.

The big cat next to Teloki raises its massive head. From the depths of its throat sounds a warm, rumbling purr.  
Deekin nods contended. His gaze touches Teloki who gives him a clueless shrug and a sighing headshake.  
"Mh mh ... and you, dearest friend of mine?" the kobold finally turns to the warrior.

With both hands Keshi reaches for the sword that is resting in her lap. She lifts it up to her eyes and carefully - almost tenderly - unsheathes it. The fine singing of the blade bears witness to the craftsmanship of its maker and to the steadfastness of its wielders hand.  
And again the bard nods pleased.  
It is going to be a good tale.


	12. Fire and Ice

**Fire and Ice**

"... and do something substantial at last! I think I'm gonna like that girl!" the half-ork laughs booming. "Where is she?"

Shadowfur frowns.  
"She is ... I ... I don't know?!"  
Strange -– There, where a place, a name, and a face should be, is ... nothing. Nothing but a silvery haze.  
"We'll take care of that later, yes?" Deekin begs. "You go on now?"

The flames' highlights dance on Keshi's face. Lost in thoughts, she caresses the neckfur of the huge panther, who puts down his head into her lap and enjoys the fondling. She gives the halfling an encouraging nod.  
"Go on!"

Teloki sighs. Then he takes a deep breath to continue and stops in bewilderment.  
"I can't remember what happened then," he whispers taken aback.

Xanos tears his hair. "Eh? You're telling me you don't know how you destroyed the unbelievable powers of the creators race? Don't banter with Xanos!"  
Then the mage within him senses a subtle echo of a delicate, silvery force, a reverberation of divine magic ...  
"Argh! Gifts of gods! Pffff! What they intend and what they achieve ... a two-edged thing. Blessing and curse," he rants and raves.

"I don't get it ..." Teloki answers, still perplexed.  
"Deekin explains!" The bard circles the flames."Here!" His grey hand pulls away a part of Telokis black woolen jacket and carefully touches the tattoo on the halfling's chest. It's torn apart by five scars; Long and somehow shining like metal.

Shadowfur flinches, his eyes wide and full of horror -– _Unbearable heat, melting metal that burns into skin with a sizzling noise ... a grey, scaly hand, talons stained with blood._  
"No!" he groans and backs off another step. Then it takes him only a wink to wrestle down the kobold and to press a dagger against his throat. There's ice on the blade and ice in his eyes. "No!" he once again snarls.

Another shadowy movement, barely noticeable is disturbing the flames' steady blazing for a moment. Keshi's seat is empty. Only Celadi sprawls on the furs, seemingly uninvolved. The warrior's slender silhouette looms over the two small shapes in front of the fireplace. The bent blade, now freed from its leathern sheath, sings beneath Telokis ear. _  
Dare to move your hand __another Fa and you're not going to move it ever again!_

Laying on the ground Deekin Scalesinger flashes a disarming smile at both; Teloki who is frozen in kneeling above him and Keshi towering over him like a dark angel.  
"Look! This, I wanted to show you: your smart head forgot, your stupid heart not!" Then the kobold with a mildly annoyed grumble, pushes aside the halfling's hand and wriggles free. Teloki releases him, trapped in a strange mixture of puzzlement and respect.  
"Egads, what in the hells happened?" he asks bashfully.

"If you ask me, it looked as if you were going to let yourself be killed," Xanos says while pointing to Keshis blade and her slowly relaxing face.  
"It has been close, I'm sorry, little friend," she apologizes, embarrassed.  
Then she lowers her sword and once again their eyes meet; Shadowfur finally understands. Some scars are visible; The distorted sun on his chest. Other scars leave their marks deep within a soul; A hungry sword and a dark glow in almond-shaped eyes.  
"And don't tell me about gods!" she adds while letting her katana slide back into its sheath and joining hands with him.

There is a bitter undertone in her voice. That's new, even to Deekin.  
"Ooooh – a new tale?" he states, inquiring.  
Keshi sighs and puts the small kobold back onto his feet. With an exaggerated gesture, she wipes off an invisible mote of dust from his shoulder.  
"Keshi?!" The little bard's voice is as impatient as it is entreating. But the red haired one shakes her head.  
"Later, Deekin. Not here and not now."

"Alright," Xanos' voice is heard. He had watched this scene, intrigued, but not a bit worried. He knows; Keshi is Keshi, sometimes more, sometimes less. What ever lives within her-- light and dark, hard and soft -- it's well balanced somehow. Just like his crystal pendulum, that always comes to rest where its orbit meets the abyss point, she returns to an invisible center. It is as delicate and razorsharp as the blade of her sword. From time to time – just like now – a thoughtless word or even a rash gesture could push her out of kilter. He had seen it more times than enough. Surely, Keshi's past hides a thrilling story, but ...  
"... tonight Teloki narrates and Xanos is desperate to know how he destroyed the sourcestone."

"But ...", Shadowfur faces Deekin and helplessly spreads his arms. "I still cannot remember."  
"Tell with your heart, not with your head," the kobold suggests. Then he looks at the fighter. "Keshi helps, true?"

But she once again shakes her head in disapproval.  
"No, Deekin. I ..."  
"Keshi understands a heart's tale," the kobold continues, ignoring her unsaid objection. "Keshi catches dreams. She catches your dream too."


End file.
